, 1887-10-22
1RANspLAN1lNe HUMAN TEETH.
A Curious Experiment in Dental Surgery.
Origin of the Process.

A Curious Experiment in Dental Surgery.
Origin of the Process.
The other evening l was asked by DIR.
j. II. Baxter, chief medical purveyor of
the United States army, 10 dine at his
house to meet DIR. Younger, the celebrated
dentist of San Francisco, who was tho
sensation of the dental section of the
congress. A dozen or more eminent den
fists were at the dinner, including DIR.
Scott, the surgeon at West Point, N. Y,
and doctors from Detroit, Albany, Mon
treal, etc. Briefly, DIR. Younger is able
to take a tooth, which may have been ex-
tracted months ago, and plant it, so to
speak, in the mouth of another person,
where, in the course of a few months, it
becomes firm, and looks like and serves
the purpose of anew tooth. He has per-
formed this operation 200 times with but
twenty failures. He had a transplanted
tooth in the upper jaw, right hand side,
of his own mouth. He offered to allow
the doctors of the congress to extract this
tooth in public and examine its condition
if they wished to do so. He had one or
two patients with him, notably a negro
man, who had had the operation per-
formed successfully.
Five is the largest number of new teeth
DIR. Younger had ever put into one mouth.
1t is necessary to the success of the oper-
alton that there shall be enough of the
bony process in which he teeth grow
naturally, called the alveolar, still exist
ing as a part of the jaw bone, into which
a new socket for the tooth can be drilled.
The tooth must also be a healthy one,
with at least half of its proper covering,
called the perisementum, existing. 1t is
thought that life remains in a healthy
tooth for many month"; after it has been
taken out of he mouth. DR.. Younger
fills the nerve channel of the tooth
with gutta percha, which has the merit
of not aching. He then drills the new
socket, puts the tooth in and fastens down
the gum. The tooth is tied in for a few
weeks, when 10! it is a part of the APP
paratus of the mouth, as much as if it
had been there originally. This naturally
seems astounding, and the facts caused a
great sensation among the dentists of the
congress. DR.. Younger ~transplanted q
number of teeth in public while in Wash
ington, English and other dentists volun-
teering TO permit him to do 80. The
operation is not very painful, and can be
dom in less than five minutes. There is
nothing now to hinder lovers from ex-
changing teeth. Charlie car give UP one
of his molars, and Mary can SWAP an eye
tooth.
In appearance DIR. Younger resembles
a German, and the infection of his speech
is very Xix a Germans. Blu he tells me
he is a native of Chill, South America.
He accidentally discovered the fact that
teeth can be successfully transplanted. A
year or two ago a woman came into his
office in San Francisco who had had a
tooth knocked out of her mouth.
Doctor" she said, ~ want you to
put this tooth back where it belongs"
Nonsense! 1t cannot be done. 1t
would do no good"
but 1 insist that you do it."
cit would fall out. The mouth would
reject it. 1t is now the same as a foreign
substance.
mo matter, doctor; 1 wish to rave the
tooth put back"
Il am too busy today said DIR.
Younger, thinking to dissuade her. The
woman went away.
81 got to thinking the matter over"
said DR.. Younger to me, land at last 1
determined to try the experiment. 1t
could do no harm. l sent for the woman
the next day and said: If you still want
me to put that tooth in l will do SO to
please you l cleaned it, cleaned out
the socket, and put it back, fastening
down the gum. By George! In a month
the tooth was as sound and solid in her
mouth as the rest, and it has remained so
to this day. She eats with it the same as
with her other teeth and knows no diff
ference. That was the beginning of my
teeth t~ransplanting. The fact is now as
well established as any in medical or
dental science"
After dinner at DIR. Bakers the den
fists met in the parlor and discussed the
matter further. All went away con-
WINGED, and resolved to try the new pro-
cess.-Fuller Walker in Kansas City
Journal.